There may not be a more dramatic week-to-week shift in golf than going from the U.S. Open to the Travelers Championship. While birdies and red numbers were at a premium last week at the U.S. Open, they were plentiful in the first round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. Nearly half the field of 155 is under par following the first round, led by Brendan Steele at 8-under. Steele opened the tournament with a round of 62 and leads by one shot.
2014 Travelers Championship: Brendan Steele shoots 62, leads at 8-under
TPC River Highlands was once again set up for low scores and the field took advantage, peppering the leaderboard with low numbers.
Jared Wickerham
Steele started his round with a bang, notching an eagle at No. 1. He followed that with a birdie on No. 2 to move to 3-under through two holes. The birdie was one of six on the day. He didn’t drop a single shot on the round, largely thanks to some excellent approach shots. He hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation. While Steele turned in the round of the day, he was far from the only player going low. Fifteen players shot 65 or better, including Sergio Garcia. Garcia opened his round with nine pars to make the turn at even. He got rolling on the back side, however, quickly moving into the red. He followed a birdie on No. 10 with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 12 and 13. Following a par on No. 14, he rolled off three straight birdies, including at No. 17 where he hit a beautiful approach shot leaving a tap-in birdie.
That moved him to 6-under on the round, but he gave a shot back with a bogey on the closing hole. Even with the dropped shot, he went out in 30 to play his way into a tie for ninth at 5-under
Matt Kuchar didn’t card as many red numbers as a few other players in the field, but he may have made the putt of the day, sinking a 54-foot uphill putt on No. 15 for an eagle. That, along with two birdies and no bogeys, has him at 4-under heading into the second round. Kuchar was nearly forced to settle for a birdie at the 15th, but his putt had just enough speed to make the extra rotation at the lip of the cup and drop.
While Kuchar carded a solid and relatively uneventful round, the opposite was true for Zach Johnson. Johnson shot a 1-over 71, but finished the day with just eight pars. He was up-and-down throughout, carding four birdies, four bogeys, an eagle and a triple bogey. Johnson is currently a couple of strokes off the cut line and will have work to do on Friday if he’s going to be around for the weekend.
Here is a complete look at the leaderboard through 18 holes:
Place | Player | Score | 1st Round |
1 | Brendan Steele | -8 | 62 |
T2 | Bud Cauley | -7 | 63 |
T2 | Ryan Moore | -7 | 63 |
T4 | Joe Durant | -6 | 64 |
T4 | Chad Campbell | -6 | 64 |
T4 | Jeff Maggert | -6 | 64 |
T4 | Scott Langley | -6 | 64 |
T4 | Eric Axley | -6 | 64 |
T9 | Doug LaBelle II | -5 | 65 |
T9 | K.J. Choi | -5 | 65 |
T9 | Ken Duke | -5 | 65 |
T9 | Brandt Snedeker | -5 | 65 |
T9 | Sergio Garcia | -5 | 65 |
T9 | Brooks Koepka | -5 | 65 |
T9 | Brad Fritsch | -5 | 65 |
T16 | Justin Hicks | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Heath Slocum | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Keegan Bradley | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Kevin Chappell | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Russell Knox | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Tim Wilkinson | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Steve Marino | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Hudson Swafford | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Harris English | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Matt Kuchar | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Dustin Johnson | -4 | 66 |
T16 | Patrick Rodgers | -4 | 66 |
T28 | Brice Garnett | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Charley Hoffman | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Bubba Watson | -3 | 67 |
T28 | John Merrick | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Chris Stroud | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Aaron Baddeley | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Vaughn Taylor | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Michael Putnam | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Sang-Moon Bae | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Andrew Svoboda | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Billy Mayfair | -3 | 67 |
T28 | Charlie Wi | -3 | 67 |
T40 | Cameron Beckman | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Gonzalo Fdez-Castano | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Trevor Immelman | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Angel Cabrera | -2 | 68 |
T40 | J.J. Henry | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Carl Pettersson | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Hunter Mahan | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Seung-yul Noh | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Johnson Wagner | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Retief Goosen | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Morgan Hoffmann | -2 | 68 |
T40 | David Duval | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Wes Roach | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Jamie Lovemark | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Vijay Singh | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Andres Romero | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Tim Herron | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Brian Harman | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Tyrone van Aswegen | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Miguel Angel Carballo | -2 | 68 |
T40 | Jim Herman | -2 | 68 |
T61 | Chad Collins | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Ben Crane | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Kevin Streelman | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Matt Jones | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Kris Blanks | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Brian Davis | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Freddie Jacobson | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Jim Renner | -1 | 69 |
T61 | James Hahn | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Ted Potter, Jr. | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Jhonattan Vegas | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Stuart Appleby | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Bo Van Pelt | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Thorbjorn Olesen | -1 | 69 |
T61 | Will Wilcox | -1 | 69 |
T76 | Graham Delaet | E | 70 |
T76 | Sean O'Hair | E | 70 |
T76 | Richard Lee | E | 70 |
T76 | Brendon de Jonge | E | 70 |
T76 | Lee Janzen | E | 70 |
T76 | Y.E. Yang | E | 70 |
T76 | Derek Ernst | E | 70 |
T76 | Brian Gay | E | 70 |
T76 | Charlie Beljan | E | 70 |
T76 | Jason Day | E | 70 |
T76 | Paul Goydos | E | 70 |
T76 | Ryo Ishikawa | E | 70 |
T76 | John Peterson | E | 70 |
T76 | Oliver Goss | E | 70 |
T76 | Dicky Pride | E | 70 |
T76 | Jonathan Byrd | E | 70 |
T76 | Tommy Gainey | E | 70 |
T76 | Nick Watney | E | 70 |
T76 | Marc Leishman | E | 70 |
T76 | Patrick Reed | E | 70 |
T76 | Chesson Hadley | E | 70 |
T76 | Jonas Blixt | E | 70 |
T76 | John Daly | E | 70 |
T76 | David Lingmerth | E | 70 |
T76 | Jerry Kelly | E | 70 |
T76 | Alex Prugh | E | 70 |
T102 | Billy Hurley III | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Troy Matteson | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Robert Streb | 1 | 71 |
T102 | D.A. Points | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Scott Brown | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Tag Ridings | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Alex Aragon | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Kevin Foley | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Spencer Levin | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Matt Bettencourt | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Troy Merritt | 1 | 71 |
T102 | William McGirt | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Kyle Stanley | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Zach Johnson | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Shawn Stefani | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Camilo Villegas | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Patrick Cantlay | 1 | 71 |
T102 | Kevin Tway | 1 | 71 |
T120 | Danny Lee | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Kevin Stadler | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Luke Guthrie | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Bobby Wyatt | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Adam Rainaud | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Andrew Loupe | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Greg Owen | 2 | 72 |
T120 | John Mallinger | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Jason Allred | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Marc Turnesa | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Peter Malnati | 2 | 72 |
T120 | Joey Garber | 2 | 72 |
T132 | James Driscoll | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Bryce Molder | 3 | 73 |
T132 | John Huh | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Tim Clark | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Daniel Chopra | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Greg Chalmers | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Nicholas Thompson | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Bronson La'Cassie | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Ricky Barnes | 3 | 73 |
T132 | John Rollins | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Michael Thompson | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Ryuji Imada | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Justin Bolli | 3 | 73 |
T132 | Cameron Wilson | 3 | 73 |
T146 | Erik Compton | 4 | 74 |
T146 | Tim Petrovic | 4 | 74 |
T146 | Brian Stuard | 4 | 74 |
T146 | Mark Wilson | 4 | 74 |
T146 | Edward Loar | 4 | 74 |
T146 | Benjamin Alvarado | 4 | 74 |
T152 | Sebastian Saavedra | 5 | 75 |
T152 | Scott Gardiner | 5 | 75 |
T152 | Scott McCarron | 5 | 75 |
155 | Bobby Gates | 8 | 78 |
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